We've got the spirit

 Yes, we do! We've got the spirit!

How 'bout you?

The tradition here is to mark little swimmers up with permanent marker so they can be easily identified by parent volunteers (we write their names on their backs) and so they remember what events they're in (we write a little heat sheet on their arm or leg). The kids also sometimes go a little crazy marking each other up with...team spirit. 

Sometimes kids' backs will say, "Eat my bubbles!"

Sometimes they'll have a little speed button drawn on them somewhere—their shoulder, their leg—that people can poke for luck. 

Benjamin's friend attacked him with a permanent marker last night and he ended up with a smiley face on his back. 

Zoë wrote "Go Rapid Barracudas!" down her leg...and then sat on my chair.

Sometimes writing on these kids is a lost cause. It's hot and sunny so they need sunscreen...but sunscreen makes the permanent marker melt right off...so you have to strive for waiting the perfect amount of time for the sunscreen to soak in, leaving the skin dry so the marker will stay on, because if you do it too soon the marker comes off and if you put sunscreen on after the marker comes off. Sometimes the marker just...comes off...even when you think you've done everything right.

And so it happens that my chair now proclaims "RACUDAS!" ...backwards.

"!SADUCAR"

We've tried magic eraser, we've tried hairspray, we've tried hand sanitizer, we've tried sunscreen. 

I even tried dry erase marker, which I was worried wouldn't come off the chair either. The dry erase marker came off just fine...but that permanent marker? It's living up to its name! 

Nothing seems to be able to lift this team spirit from my chair. 

I have a few other ideas up my sleeve, but...I'm worried about what all the chemicals and scrubbing are going to do to the chair fabric itself...so for now we're just embracing its enthusiasm...and instituting and "no sitting down" rule after the kids have been sunscreened and markered. 

Go team!